Search

Recent Posts

Archive

In Their Words ... Kekalainen, Richards

Posted May 5, 2014
by Aaron Portzline
| 0 comments

The Blue Jackets have moved grudgingly into the off-season. The Jackets lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Pittsburgh Penguins, ending the most successful season in franchise history, one built to a crescendo with the first two playoff wins in franchise history.

Over the next few days, we'll publish Q&As with key members of the club as they look back on a memorable season and look forward to a bright future. Today, Blue Jackets GM Jarmo Kekalainen and coach Todd Richards.

JARMO KEKALAINEN

Opening statement: The one word I’ve heard after the last game is that we should be proud – proud of the way the team finished and the way we played. In my own mind, I’ve tried to define it a little more narrowly. I’m really proud about the effort, the no-quit in our team and the identity we’ve established. Now the Blue Jackets are known through the league for the identity we’ve built, which is a hard-working, hard to play against, no quit, blue-collar team. I’m really proud of that.

But let’s not be satisfied here. It makes me really excited about the players we have, the potential we have. Everybody needs their rest right now. I need my rest. But it’s exciting to look at our guys on an individual level and as a team, how much room we have for improvement there. We have the youngest team in the league. Everybody can get better. I’m so excited about the potential we have here. We don’t have any guys who are over the hill. I believe everybody can improve.

Ryan Johansen … I get goosebumps thinking about where this guy could go with his career. It’s all in his control. I’ve said this in meetings with him. You can’t get any better in terms of his hockey sense.

I wish training camp time were here and we could get started, because of the potential I see with our group. We’re family. But I try to be careful using the word ‘family’ because you don’t trade family members. It’s a great group of guys; a really special group of guys.

We can take this to the next level, I’m convinced about that. Again, really, really excited about the potential and the future of this team and the individuals on it. I’m really proud of the steps the young guys took. I’m talking about Boone (Jenner) and Ryan (Murray) and (David) Savard. They earned everything they got, and the role got bigger as the season moved along because they earned it. That’s the right way to do it. They’re going to be the key to pushing our older guys, our more experienced guys.

When the older guys think they’re set and they don’t have any room for improvement, they’re going to see the younger players get bigger, stronger and faster, and they’re going to go ‘Whoa! I want to eat the same porridge that guy does, and have the same (conditioning) program. How can I keep up with this guy?’ That’s the healthy competition of a good team, and we have a lot of that on our team.

Question: How active do you plan to be this summer in terms of bringing in outside help, or do you seem much of the growth – maybe all of the growth – coming from within?

Answer: We have to keep the chemistry. That was a big theme going into this year, that we wanted to give our young guys an opportunity to grow, and get their ice time, get into bigger roles. We want to be careful of that. And with a special group like this, you want to be sure – and I’ve emphasized this with our scouting staffs, amateur and professional and college – that I can’t emphasize the character aspect enough. That’s going to be a huge part of our scouting manual, to find out the part of the player that is the hardest to find out, which is their character.

Q: When you were hired in February 2013 … did you expect to be talking about a playoff berth, and talking about some of your young players like this?

A: I would say it’s ahead of schedule. I wasn’t so familiar with the team before I got here. I’d seen a lot of the guys come through the draft and play in the NHL. But when you get in and you get close with the team and you find out about their character from the inside, then you know a lot more about these guys. Having done that, I’m not so surprised anymore. Knowing these guys, it doesn’t surprise me anymore.

Q: Can you talk about the job Todd Richards has done in his two-plus seasons in Columbus?

A: He’s a very fair coach and he holds the players accountable. You perform you get ice time. You perform well, you get more ice time. And if you don’t perform you could be a healthy scratch. That’s the best way to do it. We don’t have anybody who’s an exception. Everything you get with our team has to be earned. So we have an honest team, an honest atmosphere.

Q: You have some significant unrestricted free agents whose contracts are up on July 1. Have you informed any of those players of your plans in that respect?

A: We told every player the same thing this season (back in February). We didn’t want any distractions over the last 20-25 games this season, because they were almost playoff games. And we didn’t want any distractions during the playoffs. We wanted guys to be able to concentrate on their games. We’re going to meet and talk as a staff before we start making those decisions. Same with (contract extensions) for the coaching staff.

Q: Your most significant free agent is Ryan Johansen (a restricted free agent). Has there been any talks toward a new deal yet, and what might you be looking for with that deal?

A: We have our projections (on a new contract), but I won’t get into those. I’m not worried about getting him signed. I’m convinced he will. He was a good player for us. Like I mentioned, he’s one of those players that I feel really excited about getting to the next level. I told him: ‘We’re going to make sure we push you to the next level, you’re going to help us get there.’ I’m sure we’ll get him signed through the proper process and he’ll be a big part of our future.

Q: How much different might this club be next season with a healthy Nathan Horton?

A: It’s one of those things … the more you start thinking, the more frustrating it becomes. It’s out of your control. The most frustrated person is probably Nathan Horton. He was excited to sign with us, excited to be part of the team. We knew about the shoulder (when he signed as a free agent last summer). But between that and the lower abdominal injury … I think he’s excited about being 100 percent healthy next year, and we’re going to see a completely different player than we had this year. We’re going to see a different player than we had this year. We’re going to see the player who contributed to (Boston winning the) Stanley Cup and took that team to the Stanley Cup Final last year. That’s the kind of player we’re getting back next season, so that’s really exciting for our team.

Q: Will you be looking at upgrading your goaltending depth this summer?

A: Curtis McElhinney performed very well for us. It’s not easy to have one guy expected to play 70 games, and you’re not sure when you’re going to get your opportunity. He stepped in and played very well for us. He stole a couple of games for us, won games for us, was the first star and really performed well. He’s a pro.

Q: Can you say at this time if you’ll use one or both of your compliance buyouts this off-season?

A: We’re going to look at every option we have to improve our team. That’s all I would say about that.

TODD RICHARDS

Question: What did the playoff teach you about your team?

Answer: We’ve got to be faster. Individuals have to be faster, meaning the players. We need to use the summer to train better, get faster. As a coaching staff, we have to (get them to) play faster. I’m talking systematically, how we plays as a team. The competitiveness of our team was right there; the battle level, the will, our want … everything was there. But in Game 5, Pittsburgh elevated its play and it caught us off-guard a little bit. They were playing faster than we were. I came out of (Game 5) think we have to play faster.

Q: When you look back on this season, any thing surprise you?

A: Two players right away are Boone Jenner and Ryan Murray. Two young players … and I’d probably put David Savard in that group, too. Coming into training camp, the expectations … I wasn’t sure what to expect from these guys. I knew David a little bit from previous seasons, but when he showed up for camp he was in much better shape. It got you excited a little bit, but you still weren’t sure if it would translate to anything on the ice. But it did. The role he played late in the season – based on injuries he started to get a little more playing time, more power play time. We needed him to get big and heavy, playing with Jack (Johnson), going against the other team’s best players, filling that role (when Fedor Tyutin suffered a concussion). He did a pretty good job with it. Enough has been said about (Jenner and Murray), but it’s still very impressive that these guys – 20 years old – playing significant roles on this team.

Q: Has the disappointment of losing in the first round faded yet, and do you look back on this season as a success.

A: It is positive, yes. The further you get away from (Game 6), the easier it is to put the emotions and the disappointment aside. You’re able to reflect on the things we were able to accomplish as a team, as an organization, the steps we were able to take. There’s a lot to be excited about, a lot to be positive about. But in the end we finished 15th out of 30 teams. It is moving up (here), and that’s what we want to do, but it’s still just middle of the road. It’s mediocre. We want to keep pushing, keep getting better.

Q: What were the last two weeks like for you?

A: You could see how much it’s meant to our fans, the city, our ownership. Where we were at two years ago … the 30th place team and lots of things going on around the team, just the negativity. Where we’re at now is a credit to management, the ownership and the players. It’s headed in the right direction, but we’re not there yet. It was a great step but we can’t be satisfied. We can’t say we’re here and we’ve arrived because there’s still a lot more ahead of us.

Q: Beyond off-season training for the players, how do you get faster? How do you coach ‘faster’?

A: I don’t want you guys to think we’re going to, all of a sudden, be a blazing team up and down the ice. I’ve made that mistake once before in a previous coaching job, saying we’re going to do this, this and this. I just game out of those (last two playoff games) vs. Pittsburgh, and when Pittsburgh elevated their play, they were playing faster than we were. The logical solution is that we have to play faster.

Q: But how?

A: Whether that’s getting our players, through their summer training, to get faster … Or maybe it’s our practices, getting the guys to go up and down the ice faster … coaching them to make plays with the puck faster. There are different ways of playing fast. You can play fast by skating, you can play faster when you have the puck and guys are in position, because your execution is better, and you can play faster with your mind, just anticipating where you need to go. It’s not that we’re going to change everything. Pittsburgh elevated their play. Through four games, and even in Games 5 and 6, we were there with them. But when they cranked it up, there were points in the game where they played faster than we play.

Q. Have you been surprised – pleasantly so – by the turn-around that occurred here in just the last two seasons?

A: I got here when there was a lot of negativity around the team. It’s nice to hear a lot of positive things being said. The players have earned it. Quite frankly, everyone in the organization has earned it. Those are the steps we want to take. The city, the fans … for me, you want more of it. It’s addictive. I wasn’t sure about Game 1 (what the crowd would be like). Game 2 I was really excited for. Game 6 I was excited. It’s that addiction I’ve got for that building, what it can be like on an everynight basis.

Q: Each of the exit interviews with players are personalized, but was there an over-arcing theme to them?

A: No common theme, no. Just asking them questions, talking to them about their games. We had a (team) meeting prior to our personal one on ones where there was a common them … about being ready to go, yeah. We have our work to do. Our penalty kill needs to be better. One thing Pittsburgh did, coming through the neutral zone on us, they were able to enter our zone with possession and with speed. We have to come up for a solution for that. The onus falls on the players, doing their job this summer, both mentally and physically, and being ready to go when we hit training camp.

Q: Any news on naming a captain? Did this season inform your decision in any way?

A: We had some players really step up in the playoffs. That’s something we’ll have to discuss going forward. I know I’ll get that question a lot over the summer. I’ll be doing different speaking engagements and it seems to be a pretty popular question. We had different players step up, and I think it proved that for our team not having a captain – not naming a captain – was right, that it worked for this group. I certainly don’t feel pressured. I don’t think the organization is going to be pressured, that we have to name a captain. I might happen. But then again it might not. We have to figure out what works best for our team and the organization.

Q: Many of the players have said the organization wants players to stick around Columbus over the off-season. How important is that to you?

A: There’s always positive things when guys hang out together, work out together, train together, spend more time together. I’ve been a part of an organization where there was disappointment with a previous season, all the players committed to staying and they have a very successful season the next year. It’s not a solution to everything, but when you’re a family – which the players are – the more you’re together, it makes a family stronger.

Cannon Fodder Podcast

Cannon Fodder is the podcast from The Dispatch sports team covering the Blue Jackets. Tune in for lively discussions about the ta and the rest of the NHL. Subscribe to the show through its RSS feed or iTunes.

Commentary from the Dispatch

Columnist Michael Arace shares his thoughts on the Blue Jackets and the NHL.